Unleashed: Most recent pit bull attack begs the question ... how can these be prevented?

AnnArbor.com photoSeeing the innocent face of this pit bull mix in the Huron Valley Humane Society and reading about yet another mauling can play on anyone's emotions.

I'm tired. Tired of reading yet another pit bull attack story. Tired of defending the breed that many people loathe and even more fear. Not because I don't like the dogs -- if you've read my previous posts, you know I am very much against breed discrimination and love rolling around on the floor with friends' friendly pit bulls.

I'm tired of defending the dogs whose owners are irresponsible and, in some cases, ignorant. Look, people: If you are going to own a dog such as a pit bull, or a mastiff, or a German shepherd dog, you need to be aware of the risks involved and take every precaution to ensure your dog will not end up in the headlines after another horrible incident.

After this week's attack on a 60-year-old man in Wyoming, in which a neighbor's two pit bulls somehow got out of the house while the owner was at work, I was researching our archives for previous occurrences. I was looking for a specific incident involving an attack on a boy and put these words in my search: pit bull, maul, boy. My heart sank, my eyes welled. Several horrific stories appeared on my screen. And those were just boys who were mauled.

Here are some of the headlines and "leads" from the past several years:

From 1997: Mauling by dog sends 4-year-old to hospital. Two days after a judge ordered a pit bull destroyed for attacking two people, another dog mauled a 4-year-old Holland boy, sending him to the hospital with head wounds The attack occurred as the boy was playing with his neighbor's smaller dog. He followed the dog into its yard and was attacked by the neighbor's larger dog, a German shepherd-husky mix.

1999: Pit bulls maul cat; children may face charges. A Siamese cat, tethered to a tree by its owner in a fenced yard, was easy prey for two pit bull terriers who were purposely let inside by the two youngsters walking them, according to Muskegon Heights police. The cat was mauled, severely bitten and had to be put to death. The children, ages 11 and 12, opened the gate and let the animals go into the yard and could be charged with animal cruelty through juvenile court.Police also want the dogs destroyed “because they are dangerous animals."

2004: Baby mauled by grandmother's dog. A 16-month-old Detroit boy died after being mauled by his grandmother's pit bull while visiting her home, police said. The boy's mother brought the boy to the home on the city's west side for a visit with her 54-year-old mother. The grandmother was washing dishes and apparently placed the child on the floor to play with the dog. The dog mauled the child and bit off one of the grandmother's fingers as she tried to stop the attack.

2005: Mom arrested in pit bull's fatal mauling of son. The mother of 12-year-old Nicholas Faibish, the San Francisco boy killed by his family's two pit bulls, was arrested on charges that her actions led to the boy's "completely preventable" death. Maureen Faibish, 39, was accused of felony child endangerment for leaving her son alone in a basement in the family's home, separated from the dogs by a door she had secured with a propped shovel. Maureen Faibish went out in the middle of the day to run errands and, she told The San Francisco Chronicle in an interview the next week, left Nicholas in the basement, gave him snacks and video games, and propped a shovel against the door to keep the pit bulls from getting in. She said she had been worried about the family's male dog, Rex, because he had been acting possessively toward the other pit bull, Ella, who was in heat.

2009: Pit bull fatally mauls Eastpointe boy, 1. Police in Eastpointe said a family's pit bull terrier fatally mauled a 1-year-old boy and that the boy's father killed the dog. Eastpointe police said the toddler was attacked Wednesday afternoon at his home. Corsi said the boy's father shot the dog to death with a handgun. The child was pronounced dead at St. John Hospital.

2011: No charges likely in pit bull attack. Chief Jeff Hadley said he does not expect the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety to request criminal charges in the case of a 10-day-old boy who was mauled to death Saturday by his family's pit bull terrier, although police were continuing to investigate. Police said it appeared the infant was mauled by the pit bull at about 4:30 p.m. He died at the scene.

In many cases, including the recent one of the Wyoming man, the owners were irresponsible. Dogs either were left unattended or unsecured enough to escape. In the San Francisco case, the woman knew her son needed to be protected from the dogs, yet left him in the same house alone with them?

Clearly, there is a problem. But what is the solution? Leash laws in many communities are in place. Discriminating against breeds through bans isn't fair to the many responsible owners of such breeds. So, what could work? Special licensing and fees for certain breeds, like the ordinance recently proposed in Saginaw? Mandatory obedience classes?

I'd love to hear practical and thoughtful suggestions from readers. And, please, no "kill them all" ideas. That solution is hardly helpful, especially since many of the dogs in these types of attacks, it turns out, aren't American pit bull terriers, but rather a mix of several breeds slapped with a "pit bull" label.